
Mental health is something that should be taken seriously, and a social stigma attached with it is causing quite the opposite to take place. People are not agreeing on what mental illness is from the mention of its name, as in some people are not agreeing that it is an actual illness. In reality, 18.19% of US adults suffer from a form of mental illness. (Mental Health America). Why is it so hard for a large portion of the population to deny that it is a problem then? Not only does more than 18% of the population suffer from a mental illness, a large percentage within this statistic are confined in the prison system. Once incarcerated, there is a significant lack of treatment for mentally ill inmates. Those will mental health issues are pushed through the system with no real acknowledgement of their conditions existing. Many believe that because they are criminals, they do not deserve the extra time and money necessary to treat their conditions. What benefits could there possibly be to pouring millions of dollars into criminals? Criminals? Visit any prison and it will not take long to see the horrible conditions that go on within the building.  The prison system is not ideal for a mentally healthy offender, so imagine what it would be like for a mentally ill offender to endure. Within the prison, those with a mental illness are especially subject to abuse by fellow inmates and prison guards. This goes back to the idea that many are not educated on what mental illness is, or how they should react to a person dealing with mental health issues. By initiating a national effort to improve the treatment of mentally ill in the prison system, the prison system will see a future monetary profit by providing quality care from the beginning of treatment, leading to a reduction in the reentry rates of mentally ill convicts, and an increase in national awareness regarding the mistreatment of mentally ill in society.

Health care is not cheap. Mental health care is no different. "The number of mentally ill in jails and prisons continues to climb, and the severity of their mental disorders is worsening" (Felthous). With climbing numbers, the cost of treatment is becoming even more of a concern, and a reason for prisons to avoid providing adequate mental health care to inmates. According to many prisons, the subpar mental health treatment that is given (or not given for that matter) is actually beneficial because of the large sums of money being saved by not prescribing proper medication and treatment, which is very costly. This makes sense until you think about the effects of not supplying adequate treatment from the beginning has. For example, a child cuts their arm after falling. The parent goes to the store in order to buy the child ointment, but once they see that the ointment costs $1.00, they refuse to buy it because they consider the price of the ointment too high. The ointment symbolizes the treatment that the child needs. After not providing the child with proper treatment from the beginning, the ointment, the child's cut becomes severely infected after a few days. Now, the child must be taken to a doctor in order to receive medication to cure the infection. Soon after, the parent receives the doctor bill in the mail, with the total cost of treatment being $20.00. Upon receiving the bill, the parent realizes that if they had just bought the correct treatment to begin with, they would have saved money in the long run. This is the same for the prison system. Prisons are so set on saving money right now, that the system is not thinking about the long term effects of not supplying treatment has financially. By not supplying correct and quality treatment from the beginning of the mentally ill convicts' sentence, their condition is not being tended to. This leads to events such as physical outbursts towards themselves, other inmates, or guards happening. With these outbursts, injuries occur, and are also a costly thing to treat. Not only is there a possibility of outbursts occurring, but the inmate may complete their sentence and be released into society. With a now degraded mental state due to a lack of treatment, the mentally ill person is more likely to commit another crime and be put back into the prison system. Taxpayer dollars are now paying for the same inmate to live in prison once again. According to Senator Darrell Steinberg and Professor David Mills, not only does the concept of not providing treatment in order to save money come with a fiscal cost, there is a moral cost as well. Sure, money is being lost, but what about the criminal offender? Is the money worth seeing a person lose their life? Not only is the deinstitutionalization of state mental health systems resulting in more mentally ill being put in prison instead of receiving proper treatment, the lack of treatment once incarcerated results in deteriorated conditions (Daniel). Some people believe that once the offender has completed their sentence and is released back into society, there is no longer a need to worry about finances. This belief comes from the idea that there will not be any more money being put towards the offender, them no longer being a responsibility of the state to care for. This is not the case. In the short run, yes, they are free and it is no longer the responsibility of the prison to care for them; but they will soon reenter the system, the state of the mentally ill not having been improved, leading to more money being spent as they reenter the system down the road. According to Anasseril E. Daniel, MD, "about 50 percent reenter prisons within three years of release (a phenomenon known as recycling), because of inadequate treatment and rehabilitation in the community." (Daniel). Even though it would cost more money in the short-term to provide higher quality professionals, medication, and programs for the incarcerated, it is more financially wise in the long-run. 

 The Department of Justice addressed mental illness in the criminal justice system. The Department of Justice recognizes the fact that many offenders who have a mental illness do not receive proper care and treatment while incarcerated. One solution brought up was to "improve access to effective treatment for people with mental illnesses." (Department of Justice).  People who believe that it is only the mentally ill being affected without formal treatment are strongly misinformed. The fact that those who go untreated can cause a problem in the future was also identified by the Department of Justice: "offenders becoming a greater threat to themselves and others when they leave jail or prison." (Department of Justice). It is not just for the benefit of the mentally ill inmate to receive treatment, but rather for society. If the offender manages to complete their sentence, while still being extremely mentally unstable/unhealthy, upon release, they are now a threat to the public. Lashing out is common for disorders such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for example. As for the person consequences the offender with the worsening conditions may face, suicide is prevalent in the prison system. A lack of treatment results in higher suicide rates, suicide being the third leading cause of death in US state and federal prisons (Daniel). This all goes back to the financial facet because if the mentally ill person reoffends (which they are more likely to than not) they are put back into this cycle of mistreatment in the criminal justice system, leading to even more money being spent.

Inside the walls of any prison, all inmates face the threat of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Who is there to stop a guard from unlawfully acting against an inmate, when they are the ones who are supposed to be protecting them? Not only are power hungry guards a threat to the prison inmate population, the inmates themselves pose a threat to each other, due to heightened emotions and an aggravated environment. Mentally ill inmates, some not being able to fully understand commands and social situations, are walking targets. It is easy to overpower a person with a mental illness, who does not understand what is going on. It is not just a problem of the mentally ill subjecting themselves to physical injury, but while incarcerated, they withstand mistreatment that often results in death (Williams). Some prisoners with illnesses such as schizophrenia often behave in ways labeled as "acting out" by guards. Their illness may cause them to curse, for example, and then they are subject to physical punishment. "Jails and prisons can be dangerous, damaging, and even deadly places for men and women with mental health problems. Force is used against prisoners even when, because of their illness, they cannot understand or comply with staff orders." (Human Rights Watch). This is because the guards are not educated in how to handle a person with a mental illness. The guards do not understand that it is not by the mentally ill inmates own desire to misbehave, but it is solely their condition that causes them to do and say certain things. " ... that is, discrimination against and fear of people with disabilities- has compounded the miscarriage of justice ... " (Passin). Justice is not being done, but rather the system is promoting inhumane punishment. Why do people fear those with mental illness? Not only do they endure possible beatings, they are also doused with chemical sprays, or strapped to beds for hours as punishment (Williams). These inhumane actions need to change. A blind person is not sprayed in the face with chemicals because they cannot see, so why is a schizophrenic prisoner subject to that kind of punishment for not being able to control their language outbursts? Within the reformation of the prison system, prison guards and administration need to be more thoroughly educated on how to deal with mentally ill inmates, in order to provide more safety to the population of mentally ill inmates in prison.

If a person loses an arm, nobody argues that the person should be treated, but mental illness is something that cannot be physically seen. This causes a lack of awareness of the gravity of the situation, or even an ignorance surrounding mental health. "A quite frightening number of us are not really sold on the idea of mental health." (Lugton). Why is this? Why do so many refuse to believe that mental illness is a national problem, even though it is affecting millions of people, in and out of the prison system? Why is it okay to acknowledge one scientifically-backed illness, such as cancer, yet reject another scientifically-backed illness, such as schizophrenia? To me, that is the same as agreeing that blue is a color, yet believing that green is just a figment of someone's imagination. A horrible double standard exists in society, along with a severe social stigma. This social stigma is that mental illness is not real, that the person is just acting out in order to receive attention. This social stigma suggests if you are struggling with a mental illness, such as depression, you should be ashamed and keep it to yourself. This social stigma says, "Have you tried to just think the illness away? You know, just think happy thoughts and you will be fine?" If a cancer patient is in the hospital, a doctor would never suggest just "thinking the cancer away." There is a lack of national awareness and advocacy of mental health issues. For example, "at the Colorado NAMI Walk in May 2013 ... Dollars raised from the walk: $130,000. Compare that to the annual Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure benefiting breast cancer research ... over 40,000 people crammed the streets ... to support this well-deserved and highly visible cause. Their yield: $3,000,000." (Handler). It seems as though the population has no problem funding a physical illness, yet question putting money towards an advocacy group for mental illness. "Lots of media outlets espouse the view that mental illness is the invention of an idle and molly-coddled generation that it doesn't really exist, and such fabrications wouldn't have been tolerated in the good old days." (Lugton). There is this older generation that refuses to believe mental illness is a real thing, even though it has always been around. The only difference is that in today's society, more research is being done to combat and treat the diseases. As a society, we cannot come together to solve a problem, if a majority of us will not recognize that there is a problem to begin with. We need to show that it is not just a small number of people with mental illness, it is millions. Millions of people who are having an internal struggle, and who are in need of treatment. While more than half of all prisoners have a mental disorder of some sort, only a very small portion of these inmates receive any form of mental health treatment. The fact is that mentally ill people outside of the prison system receive a higher standard of mental health care, while those incarcerated are treated "less than human" (Daniel). This goes back to there being a moral cost. Just because someone committed a crime does not mean that they should be treated inhumanly. Guards should not have the power and authority to douse an inmate with chemicals in the face because they are in prison, let alone because they are acting out as a result of a mental condition. "Beginning to understand and treat these illnesses is a massive step forward for society" (Lugton). In order for a reformation to take place in the prison system, and in society in general, there needs to be a reformation in the way we think towards mental health. An awareness must be raised regarding the mistreatment of mentally ill. Not just the mentally ill in the prison system, but those with mental illnesses nationwide. Mental illness is not something that anyone should be ashamed of, and it is not something that someone should be punished for having. Why do we wait until the mental illness affects physical health, such as suicide or the offender injuring someone else, to take action?

Many people do not see a benefit to going out of the way to implement new institutions and spend millions on advanced medication for a person in prison. When it comes down to it, 1 in 5 Americans experience a mental illness in a given year (National Alliance on Mental Illness). How can we improve the treatment of mentally ill persons in the prison system? The reformation begins outside of the prison system. Advocacy groups need to emerge in order to bring awareness to the quality and severity of the mental health issue. The social stigma needs to cease to exist. Prison guards and staff must be educated in dealing with mentally ill inmates. Not only staff in the prison system, but society in general must accept that mental illness is a real and very serious thing happening in society. Quality treatment needs to be provided to those incarcerated in order to provide the inmate and others with safety. 

